"A psychiatrist..."
At that moment, Selina suddenly recalled the concept of the profession. A doctor who excels at dealing with psyche implications, which is related to the idea of mind and body.
If a psychiatrist can process and placate mental implications, can this actually be a name for a sequence potion of the Spectator pathway?
Selina pieced together the two concepts of a psychiatrist and mind manipulation. And since the man in question exhibited connections to the Spectator potion and possibly a secret organization behind it.
It was safe to say that the Spectator potion could have a sequence name called Psychiatrist.
But at what sequence of the Spectator pathway could have that name? Selina mused at the thought, considering if it could be the Sequence 8 of the potion after all.
Then, a moment of contemplation later. She quickly abandoned the idea. There's a possibility, but there were no concrete evidence to support it.
Perhaps Mr. Fool could also sense the validity of my assumptions... So it's best not to test it.
Changing of the subject. Selina settled to herself internally. I'm not familiar with any mental asylums within the city of Tingen. Also, I couldn't simply write out the possibility of error, so a process of elimination is needed. In that case I have to...
Make another trip by tomorrow...
Selina heaved a heavy sigh of resignation.
Then, as Selina immersed herself in thoughts. The sculpture of the man suspected of buying supplementary ingredients began lose its luster and color.
It reformed back into a figure made of flesh and organs before reverting back into the vibrant green soil.
It only lasted fifteen seconds... There's almost no difference compared to the last...
After a moment. Selina shifted her attention to the extending murals of vines from her feet.
Similar to her previous visits and like the usual, she reached out her palm onto one of the extending vines, seemingly trying to long for its end.
But unlike before, the direction she extended her hand to was the first vine she unknowingly directed.
Almost instantly, Selina phased out of existence as mist began to form across the infinite distance of the mysterious dreamworld.
...
In an apartment, situated in Westchester Borough. Capital city of Loen Kingdom, Backlund.
After attempting a cleansing ritual from a close-friend in one of the secret gatherings he had recently attended. Dylan quickly returned to his dorm in an effort to quickly finish the task assigned to him by the organization.
His assigned mission was:
To complete a reconnaissance of the entire district and incorporate any transactions or beyonder gathering he could encounter.
This was a simple mission he chose for. Yet it gives him great mobility from the usual pressure of other members of the secret organization.
His motives include a visit to an old friend who is a capable purifier, a temporary escape from the secret organization, and a brief period to realign his personal motives in joining the Rose School of Thought.
After finishing his luggage. Dylan turned towards the window and said to himself. There's still time... I'll report my findings later.
From his discoveries. He figured the mysterious disappearances of both vagrants and children. He also included the strange behaviors of people around a specific area, in this context they exhibit degrading appearance which can suggest the presence of another prisoner pathway beyonder.
Beyond all of that, his reconnaissance didn't produced much results.
The exhausted Dylan carried myself to the bed and collapsed onto its sheet covers.
Without even a second had passed. His eyes closed and a sudden illusory consciousness pulled him out of his dream.
Dylan's body continued its usual breathing pattern as his consciousness left it.
At that moment, appearing out of the thin air.
Red speckles of light gathered to the back of his left hand and coalesced into a pattern.
The pattern displays a vertically downward crescent, revealing an orb by its center as three rays extends to it.
It glowed with crimson hue before integrating deep into his skin.
...
Within the mysterious dream world resembling a landscape of the wide pastures of Milo.
Dylan's figure was formed from the mounds of wilting and pulsating organs and flesh.
It squirmed and contorted, mingling into one another until a visage was revealed.
The figure's eyes fluttered open.
At that instant, Dylan found himself within the boundary of Milo once more. A sense of horror crept to his skin with his hairs stands on ends.
He was summoned and the purifying ritual had failed!
Dylan clicked his molar as he mumbled. Even the ritual didn't work... Should I just take myself out?
I don't ever want to become a monster... If this would lead to me losing myself, I'd rather just end it all...
His hands clenched and trembled uncontrollably. A pawn of an evil goddess...
Suddenly, just like before. He saw beautiful figure of a lady, standing at distance from him.
Her face was heavily obscured by divine light yet its illumination failed to blind him or rather, chooses not to.
The lady wore a pure white gown, identical to his first forced visit. She had a silvery-gold hair and the only part of her face being unobstructed by the light, her mouth, captures a maiden's thin but full lips and pale supple skin that later consumed by the illumination moments later.
She was beautiful but accompanied by madness and horror.
Despite his fear consuming him. Dylan swallowed his saliva and asked out of frustration. "Child of God... What do you gain from summoning me into your domain?"
Selina, maintaining her presentable poise, was suddenly subjected to shock upon hearing the man posed a question, for the first time.
Okay... Okay... Let's assume a personality of a deity... Selina's breath inhaled and exhaled softly, almost inaudible from the figure she's displaying.
Before, she had already figured that if someone were ever asked her for her existence as the Child of God. Her tone and mannerism should also match the lofty figure in contrast to their goddess.
Her voice shouldn't be coming from her own mouth, instead it is to be projected by the dreamworld that adheres to her will.
Since sounds are also naturally occurring, my vocals should as well...
With this in mind, Selina donned an altered persona, a voice of someone she had recalled from a certain character in video game's series.
"Redemption..."
The dreamworld produced a melodic and enchanting voice of a lady that resounded all across the green landscape and into the infinite horizons.
It didn't directly come from her. The dreamworld heeded her desire and spoke on her behalf.
The eerily enchanting voice settled deeply into Dylan's heart with terror. A god spoke to me... Is this what call a revelation?
No... This is an evil deity! Any other entities besides the figures being worshipped by seven orthodox churches can be considered evil and malevolent!
Hearing her own voice from the surrounding grassy fields. Behind the blinding divine light, Selina was left in awe and disbelief.
Is that my voice? It's so...
Suddenly, the man echoed her word with profound realization. "Redemption..."
The word is clearly unintentional. Selina had just blurted whatever is in her mind at the current moment that she deemed to be something philosophical and unfathomable.
Then, Dylan narrowed his brows and said. "What do you mean by that?"
Upon hearing, behind her facade. Selina's mind stirred as multiple thoughts that could answer it were being abolished by her own doubts.
What do I mean by that? Well, a redemption about your evil ways as a secret organization right?
Selina shook the thought away. No, no... It should be more meaningful! Like being reborn! Like the Child of God!
Uhh... T-That can't be right. It's way too cliche...
Maybe saying that because I was reborn, they should too? Like changing their philosophies?
But wouldn't that alert them because of the goddess's change of mind? They would even found out that it's actually not Her!
From the surging lists of answers Selina had formulated, each had achieved nothing from her constant self-demolish.
Until finally, she settled...
The blinding figure didn't spoke for quite some time. But instead, the dreamworld adhered to her will as it answered on her behalf.
Only this time, it wasn't her voice. It was The Hanged Man's vocals instructing where to deliver the five hundred pounds.
"Five-hundred pounds. Warrior & Sea Bar at Pelican Street, in the White Rose Borough of Pritz Harbor... What the 'Captain' wants..."
After a brief adjustment, Selina considered the 'redemption' she had spoken of. Perhaps this man, who wore the visage of Marquis De Leon before and yet refrained from harming her, even going so far as to show concern for the late maiden, could be tested with such a chance.
From that, she reasoned he might be a man of morality, however tainted his origins. Of course, misjudgment was never impossible, but that mattered little.
If he faltered, she considered discarding the goddess persona entirely and chart another path.
As for Mr. Hanged Man. The leads would only extend to the front doors of the Mandated Punishers after the address, preventing any leaks of his identity.
Hearing this, Dylan went silent. In his mind, thoughts stirred as he began to point out. That was a voice of a man... It was also in a tone, instructing an address...
Redemption... Could it be that this goddess is giving me a chance to atone for my actions? Just for a five hundred pounds?
Then, for a moment. Dylan realized something and in his mind he spoke. Do not test a God.
But... Five hundred pounds... Dylan's face make-out a down casted expression from behind the mists.
Afterwards, he shook his head and said. "For my atonement... I want your blood to be extracted from me."
Selina didn't answered. Instead, the dreamworld howled a mild gust across the meadow, indicating a tacit approval from the goddess.
Dylan felt the response to be quite sparing. But even in his complaints, he wouldn't dare blurt it out as that would edge him into danger.
This time, after a 'meaningful' exchange. Selina heaved a relief from deep within her. Now with the matters settled, she waved off her palm back in a dismissive gesture.
The dreamworld adhered, but unlike the previous plain scenarios of her severing the connections, it formed a trail of flowers across the surrounding pasture rolling into the seemingly infinite horizon.
Dylan saw the lady obscured by divine light flicked her hand, then a batch of flowers sprouted to the ground and swarmed his vision in a chaotic tapestry of petals and leaves.
Selina phased out of the existence, and along with it, Dylan's eyes gradually opened.
He saw the room of his dorm once more as crimson light permits into the veiled curtains, revealing its plain furnishings.
Dylan rose from his bed and in the process, he saw a bright red glow radiating from the back of his left palm.
It was a downward vertical crescent, with slim rays extending out from the orb nested within its curves.
The symbol lingered for a moment, until it gradually dissolved into his skin.
Dylan felt his fear tugging at his chest and hardening his resolve to sever the connections tying him to the goddess.
However, he also noticed something.
I'm just a pawn on both sides, no matter how I resist...
His voice was low and melancholic, carried only to himself. What I need is to choose which sides can benefit me more and which would lead me to deeper corruption.
In silence, his gaze drifted back to the crimson-streaked curtains, eyes vacant. In the stillness, he whispered a single word, as though clinging to it.
"Redemption."
...
Within the mysterious dreamworld.
Selina recalled what the man had said. "Extraction of my blood?"
It was enough to root a question from her.
What is my blood have to do all this?
After a brief period. A realization struck her.
Could he be a participant of the ritual as well?
Did my blood spilled on to him?
From there, she tried to reasoned the pieces newly brought by the man. Could it be that... Those who participated in the Milo disaster and have been spilled by my blood... Were the ones who I can summon?
The vines extending from her rooted feet only displays a limited trails. Suggesting it could amount to how many people that had came into contact with her during the initial ritual.
But at that moment, intense pulsing pain resurfaced from her head.
...!
Just before it could escalate. Selina quickly simulated the feeling of returning.
Her divine figure wilted almost immediately, degrading back as a nourishment for the soil.
The dreamworld reverted.
...
Dawn simmers a golden glow entering through the transparent veils and glass windows.
Selina woke up with her vision slightly disoriented as it quickly and gradually recovered to normal.
In her bed, lying with a disheveled hair. She raised an arm to her face and stayed for a few more minutes.
"Let's go back to Mr. Darkwill and forfeit my leave. I only have a week left as a trial, it would be a waste if I let a day passed."
After awhile, Selina propped herself from the mattress, took her towel and a few clothes to change, then left the room.